Hayes question... am I on the right track?

I've found lots of info on bleeding Hayes, but nothing on draining the fluid so I can shorten the hoses (I bought pre-bled HFX-Mags that were OEM). So, is it OK for them to go dry, and then add new fluid after the hoses are shortened and secure again? I'm assuming it is, otherwise how would anyone change hoses, but at the same time, I know it's not recommended on cars for the master cylinder to go dry.

So can I drain the fluid, shorten the hose, and then rebleed/add new fluid without a problem?

I've shortened lines a few times with Hayes brakes

Everytime I didn't bother to drain the fluid at all. I unbolted the line from the MC, cut the line with fluid still in it, reattached with a new olive and did a quick bleed. Small amounts of air will get in to the line and MC, so you can simply push some fluid through the caliper bleeder and force the bubbles out the MC bleeder quickly and easily. I've found this to be the easiest way for me. I have not been successful with the "Magura method" of bleedless line shortening with Hayes atleast. Not sure if that only applies to Magura brakes. I like to do a quick bleed just to make sure all the air is out of the system anyways.
-Ryan

Originally Posted by slowride

I've found lots of info on bleeding Hayes, but nothing on draining the fluid so I can shorten the hoses (I bought pre-bled HFX-Mags that were OEM). So, is it OK for them to go dry, and then add new fluid after the hoses are shortened and secure again? I'm assuming it is, otherwise how would anyone change hoses, but at the same time, I know it's not recommended on cars for the master cylinder to go dry.

So can I drain the fluid, shorten the hose, and then rebleed/add new fluid without a problem?

How much fluid leaks out using this method? I'm trying to avoid spilling fluid as much as I can, since I'm doing this either inside my condo or out on the balcony. Obviously I'll use rags and such, but I'd still like to avoid spilling fluid all over...

Thanks!

Originally Posted by RyanC

Everytime I didn't bother to drain the fluid at all. I unbolted the line from the MC, cut the line with fluid still in it, reattached with a new olive and did a quick bleed. Small amounts of air will get in to the line and MC, so you can simply push some fluid through the caliper bleeder and force the bubbles out the MC bleeder quickly and easily. I've found this to be the easiest way for me. I have not been successful with the "Magura method" of bleedless line shortening with Hayes atleast. Not sure if that only applies to Magura brakes. I like to do a quick bleed just to make sure all the air is out of the system anyways.
-Ryan

Not sure if this will help a Hayes (or other disc brake) owner, but I had to remove about 1" of hose on my XTR setup near the master cylinder. I carefully unbolted the line, made a clean cut with a razorblade, put on a new ferrule, and bolted everything back up with hardly even a drop of fluid splillage.

I then removed the master cyclinder cover and gave the brake lever a few pulls and whatever small amount of air got in the system immediately came out through the ports in the cylinder.

The whole operation took less than 15 minutes and I didn't really have to bleed or even add more fluid (mine use mineral oil) to the system.